The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsTony McCoy has been knighted in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list. McCoy is the most successful jockey of all time and the 41 year old retired earlier this year after being Champion Jockey for 20 years in a row.
During a career spanning 23 years, McCoy won nearly everything there is to win in racing, including two Gold Cups, three Champion Hurdles and the King George VI Chase. The Northern Irishman also won the Grand National in 2010 at the fifteenth time of asking on board Don’t Push It. His partnership with JP McManus will go down as one of the most successful in racing history.
In terms of race wins, nobody comes close to McCoy’s total of 4,348 jump winners. While he will go down as the greatest jump jockey of all time, he also won nine flat races.
After receiving the award, McCoy was quoted as saying, ‘I was very humbled when I heard the news. I never thought it was something that would ever happen to me. I am very proud of it.’ This is not the first time McCoy has been recognised for his spectacular achievements, having won Sports Personality of the Year back in 2010.
Since retiring from racing, McCoy has moved into the commentary box and is now a part of the Channel 4 Racing team. Racing fans will be thrilled he is still part of the sport and will be looking forward to hearing more of his expert opinions in the future.
